CHINA

US President Donald Trump is pulling out troops from Syria and ending war in Afghanistan in order to focus on economic negotiations with China, an American writer and academic says.

James Petras, a retired professor who has published on political issues with particular focus on Latin America, the Middle East and imperialism, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday.

The US has reportedly evacuated a military base in Syria, the first step towards delivering on Trump’s recent pledge to pull American forces out of the Arab country.

According to local residents of al-Malikiya, in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, some 50 American soldiers had already left the base and traveled to a base in Iraq, along with their armored vehicles and other equipment.

President Donald Trump signed legislation designed to establish a multi-pronged strategy for advancing US interests in the Info-Pacific region, the White House said in a press release.

"The President signed into law… the ‘Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018,’ which establishes a multifaceted US strategy to increase US security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region," the release said on Monday.

Louis CK hits the offensive Trifecta
Climate change debates least rational feedback
Climate change believers don’t act like they believe
President Trump’s tweet about the experts deciding border security
Border Patrol people aren’t engineers, but their input is key
Gordon Chang says China growth may have slowed or is retracting
America is more customer than supplier to China
Huge trade war advantage for the US
North Korea’s nukes were an advantage just a year ago
In 2019 they seem more of an enormous money drain
They prevent trade advantages and cost a fortune
CNN’s “Walls don’t work” isn’t an opinion…it’s just dumb
Walls are friction, friction always changes behavior
President Trump’s statement about military pay raise
Did he innocently get his facts wrong?
It was a mistake, but is it important?
The Left cares about “fairness”

American and Chinese trade negotiators are working out details of a new agreement that could avert a wider trade war as the New Year approaches.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal could lead to a boost in U.S. exports to the Asian giant as well as a loosening of regulations that prevent or hamper U.S. firms from operating in China, people familiar with the negotiations said.

POTUS Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had made “great progress” in trade discussions, which are set to wrap up on March 1.

“Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas, and points of dispute,” he tweeted.

With roughly a week left before the first round of in-person trade-deal talks, the White House has leaked a rough outline of its expectations for a deal reportedly gleaned from preliminary conversations between President Trump and President Xi (Trump tweeted on Saturday that he and Xi had made "big progress" toward a deal during their early calls).

If nothing else, the report in the Wall Street Journal offers a benchmark against which the final deal can be judged. According to WSJ, the talks are focusing on boosting US exports and loosening regulations that discriminate against US firms operating in China (something the Chinese have been hinting at in recent policy decisions to lift import bans and remove retaliatory tariffs, while also reportedly weighing a decision to scrap their "Made in China 2025" policy).

The Chinese scientist who shocked the world by announcing he created the first genetically-edited babies, He Jiankui, and who had been missing since his accomplishment spawned widespread outrage around the globe, has been "kept" in a small university guest house, apparently under lock and key while guarded by "a dozen unidentified men", according to the New York Times.

A Chinese court in Nanjing has sentenced a dissident "citizen journalist" to four years imprisonment for retweeting 25 social media posts that contained "subversive" content, Radio Free Asia reported.

The reporter, Sun Lin, who uses the pen name Jie Mu, was found guilty of "incitement to subvert state power" by the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court following a trial in February. He was sentenced in absentia this week with only his lawyer in attendance (Sun, his attorney said, was being held in detention but was able to communicate with the jury via video link).

The US Army is apparently searching for cutting-edge technologies to be used in its military service, and new players in the field seem to be popping up, along with an established Chinese manufacturer.

Israeli firm Roboteam is competing with Massachusetts-based Endeavor Robotics over a series of major contracts to build the US army’s top-notch generation of ground robots. Those machines will be designed to be smarter and easier to run than the remote-controlled rovers that have helped troops disable bombs for more than 15 years.

The U.S. Navy is preparing to take a page from its South China Sea strategy with plans to eventually carry out “freedom of navigation” missions through the Arctic as the geopolitical scramble for dominance heats up while long iced-in sea passages thaw.

Although the goal will be to send a clear signal to Russia and China that America is a force to be reckoned with in the race to control valuable territory at the top of the world, Pentagon leaders acknowledge that it could take years, and they stress that Washington has a lot of catching up to do.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said this month that the U.S. is in danger of falling behind, specifically against increasingly provocative moves by the Russian navy, in the scramble for control over what may be the globe’s last major unexploited region.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The question in my mind is, how was the US military allowed to get this far behind Russia and China in exploration of these areas?!?

Step inside China’s “social credit laboratory” and imagine your life and liberties being controlled and severely limited exactly this way if the Democrats and Globalists, who currently control all of social media, Google, YouTube, and Apple, take complete control of the U.S. Government in 2020. Communist-controlled China has already begun their massive experiment in monitoring and ranking their citizens by what they post on social media. Got some negative things to say about your government and how the system is run? If so, you will be banned from traveling, and that’s just the beginning (think of “hate speech” on social media here).

Webmaster's Commentary:

A note to the Chinese Government; George Orwell's 1984 was a cautionary tale; not a how-to book!!!

And those in the US who are too dim to think this is not already happening here at home, you need to think again, please.

The Democrats have an interest in the vilification of Russia as “Russiagate” explains Hillary’s loss of the 2016 Presidential election and gives Democrats hope of removing President Trump from office. The media lacks independence, knowledge, and integrity and is the tool used by the military/security complex to control explanations, a prostitution of the media that has made the term “presstitutes” an accurate description. As strategic and Russian studies are largely funded by the military/security complex, the universities are also complicit in the march toward nuclear war. Republicans are as dependent as Democrats on funding from the military/security complex and the Israel Lobby.

The global scramble for a little known metal called vanadium is officially underway.

The metal, which when used in small amounts can help strengthen steel significantly, is in high demand following new Chinese regulations on infrastructure and buildings. The new rules, which came as a result of a 2008 earthquake that devastated part of China, are aiming to phase out the use of low strength steel in building projects, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The market for the metal is very small, with about 80,000 metric tons produced each year. Roughly 90% of that is used in small amounts in projects like bridges and skyscrapers. While two years ago it cost less than $5 per pound, it surged as high is $29 per pound last month.

Supply of vanadium globally has been "drawn down to nearly nothing,” according to Jack Bedder, director at a London-based research and consulting firm.

China has brought to market a hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile, said to be the first of its kind on the international market for buyers seeking a "reliable and affordable deterrence against threats from the sea," according to China.org.

"The system is intended for rapid and precision strikes against medium-size ships, naval task forces, and offshore facilities," said a representative from China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) in November.

According to CASIC, the CM-401 is fitted with a terminal radar guidance unit featuring a nose-mounted gimballed antenna. Once launched, the missile flies along a ballistic trajectory, reaching a near-space altitude. The weapon is stated to have an average speed of Mach 4 and a peak of Mach 6, although it is not clear at what altitudes these speeds are reached. -Janes.com

If you liked skipping classes or sneaking out of school, this would be your worst nightmare.

Chinese schools are adopting “intelligent school uniforms” to keep closer watch on their students, according to the state-run Global Times. The uniforms, made by a local tech firm named Guanyu, have two chips embedded in the shoulders with identification and GPS.

The uniform chips can supposedly alert teachers and parents through an app if students leave the campus during school hours -- and then locate them. One of the schools using the uniforms claimed to Global Times that they won’t track students outside of school hours.

Webmaster's Commentary:

I don't believe that these are only going to monitor kids during school hours, so one has to wonder; when proven successful at their given task, just when will these chips be mandated in any article of clothing a Chinese person may want to buy?!?

And please don't think for one millisecond, that American educators and professional government despots, are not thinking about having this mandated for every child going to a public school in this country.

China is likely to take over Kenya’s Mombasa port if Kenya Railways Corporation defaults in the payment of a loan from Exim Bank of China. Kenya used Mombasa port to secure the loan which was taken from the Chinese bank to finance construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR).

A leaked audit report shows that the government waived sovereign immunity on the Kenya Ports Assets on signing the agreement with China thus exposing Kenya Ports Authority to foreclosure by China Exim Bank.

The report said “The payment arrangement agreement substantively means that the Authority’s revenue would be used to pay the Government of Kenya’s debt to China Exim bank if the minimum volumes required for [rail] consignment are not met,” auditor F.T. Kimani wrote. “The China Exim bank would become a principle over KPA if KRC defaults in its obligations, reports African Stand and All Africa news.

China has brought to market a hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile, said to be the first of its kind on the international market for buyers seeking a "reliable and affordable deterrence against threats from the sea," according to China.org.

"The system is intended for rapid and precision strikes against medium-size ships, naval task forces, and offshore facilities," said a representative from China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) in November.

According to CASIC, the CM-401 is fitted with a terminal radar guidance unit featuring a nose-mounted gimballed antenna. Once launched, the missile flies along a ballistic trajectory, reaching a near-space altitude. The weapon is stated to have an average speed of Mach 4 and a peak of Mach 6, although it is not clear at what altitudes these speeds are reached. -Janes.com

The US and Chinese navies may find themselves unlikely neighbors in the Mediterranean as Israel's partnership with Beijing on constructing sea ports at two sites where the US 6th Fleet deploys is set to begin, which is raising eyebrows in Washington and could ultimately result in the Navy abandoning a key Israeli port altogether.

The US Navy has acknowledged that its longstanding operations in Haifa may change once a Chinese firm takes over the civilian port in 2021, prompting Israel’s national security cabinet to revisit the arrangement, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Please remember as you watch the future trajectories of these projects; the Chinese are making deals, to get both their economy, and their geopolitical, status raised; the US government is waging wars as its way of getting the geopolitical results it wants, and failing catastrophically at it.

The Americans wager that they can exercise veto power over African political alignments by force of arms, through AFRICOM’s massive military infiltration of the region.

“The ‘West’s’ political economies are spent forces, incapable of either keeping up with China’s phenomenal domestic growth or of competing with China in what used to be called the Third World.”

Donald Trump last week trotted out his war dog, National Security Advisor John Bolton, to growl and snarl over China’s attempts to “gain a competitive advantage” in Africa through “predatory” practices that supposed include “bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive” to Beijing’s global schemes.

Webmaster's Commentary:

If EVER an administration needed a "Department of Peace", it is right the heck now!!

In looking at the combination of demonization plus sanctions against Russia; China; and Iran, it is very clear to me that the US government is about to sleep-walk this country into wars our military may not be able to win.

And I say this not because I don't care about the future of this country; I say this because I do care about the future of this country, because at this time in US history, our military doesn't have the weaponry; the money; the troop strength; or the manufacturing to insure a positive outcome to a war against China and/or Russia.

Speaking of which, here's a companion story, again out of globalresearch.ca:

The year of the Golden Pig is around the corner, but no Eldorado is in sight for Xi Jinping’s China. According to Chinese astrology, the upcoming Lunar New Year, starting on February 5, traditionally brings wealth and economic prowess.

A sudden birth rate surge is usually observed during that rare zodiacal alignment in the world’s most populous nation, with parents eager to take advantage of this good omen, which promises a golden future for their newborn babies.

Yet, this time Chinese middle classes are fretting with anxiety ahead of 2019, amid growing economic uncertainty due to a slowing GDP growth, and an unprecedented trade war with the United States.

In 2018, US President Donald Trump took Beijing’s leadership by surprise, slapping massive tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy, which sent shockwaves through the Politburo.

On 22 December, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland called on China to immediately release two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, it has in arbitrary detention.

China has "resolutely" opposed demands on Monday urging Beijing to release two detained Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are currently being held in detention by Chinese authorities.

"The Chinese side expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statements made by Canada and the US," China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

It’s not just a trade war: behind that, hides a tech-war – and behind that, lie the plans for a full-spectrum arms race – from space to cyber.

As one US current commander put it:

“fields of data and information … that’s what modern war runs on. “What are the missions we do in space today? Provide information; provide pathways for information; in conflict, we deny adversaries access to that information”.

So, the new arms-race is as much about retaining and advancing US tech-leadership in chip evolution, quantum computing, big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for weaponry – as it is just about tech lead in the economic sphere: i.e. dominating civilian industry standards for the next generation of those smart electronic gadgets – that we all will buy.

US President Donald Trump is reorienting American policy toward building up the domestic economy in order to compete with China, an American writer and academic says.

James Petras, a retired professor who has published on political issues with particular focus on Latin America, the Middle East and imperialism, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

“Trump has shifted US priorities from engaging in wars particularly in the Middle East, Afghanistan and perhaps elsewhere, that he is concerned about putting US federal funds in domestic programs, his immigration programs and also aware that the wars were going in the wrong direction as far as he was concerned,” Professor Petras said.

Last week, Trump declared victory against Daesh terrorists in Syria and announced to pull out American troops from the country, saying that US troops cannot stay in Syria "forever.”

China has rolled out its latest combat drone for its first public flight, after Beijing released footage of the Wing Loong I-D combat unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which can carry over 10 different types of weapons (up to 881 lbs) and operate up to 35 continuous hours without refueling.

It is China's first all-composite unmanned aerial vehicle, which Beijing plans to sell to customers worldwide, according to Sina news.

the Pterosaur-1D is basically compatible with most of the pterosaur-1/2 weapons, including the BA-7 air-to-ground missile, the YZ-212 laser-guided bomb, the YZ-102A killing bomb and the 50 kg LS-. 6 miniature guided bombs -Sina (translated)

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper defended in a Sunday column widespread crackdowns on Christmas displays and public celebration of the Christian holiday, claiming Western media reporting on the matter had “gone too far” and police action was necessary to “regulate excessive commercialization.” These crackdowns transpired in at least four major cities.

“It may be the media’s natural instinct to exaggerate news stories to attract more eyeballs. But when it comes to Christmas in China, Western media have apparently gone too far,” the Global Times protested. “Western media seem to have declared that China is waging a war on Christmas at a whim. Native-born Chinese would find it laughable after reading their stories and say the China in their reports is a different nation from the one in which they’ve been living.”

China is constructing seaports at two sites where the US 6th Fleet deploys, in Haifa next to Israel’s main naval base and Ashdod near Tel Aviv, prompting concerns about China’s military potential in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East.

The head of a Chinese shipbuilding institute is facing trial for illegally possessing Canadian citizenship and taking bribes, according to a Chinese anti-corruption watchdog.

Bu Jianjie, the director of a research institute under the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), has been expelled from the Communist Party of China and is under investigation by authorities of Hebei Province.

The news comes amid the ongoing political tensions between China and Canada due to the arrest of an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei in Vancouver.

While China’s government may be officially communist, the Chinese people express widespread support for capitalism. Roughly three-quarters of the Chinese (76%) agree that most people are better off in a free market economy. And since 2002, the Chinese have consistently been one of the strongest proponents of capitalism compared with other publics around the world, even more so than Americans and Western Europeans.

One day after Steven Mnuchin convened the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, also known as the Plunge Protection Team, only to see a record Christmas Eve drop in US stock markets, China showed the US how market manipulation is done.

With only a handful of Asian markets open on Christmas Day, and with Nikkei 225 plummeting 1000 points as Japan's blue chip index closed a whopping 5% lower and entered a bear market, China's stocks similarly started the day off on the back foot with both the Shanghai Composite and the SSE 50 Index of the country’s largest stocks sliding around 2.5% in early trade. However all that reversed in the afternoon session when the Chinese National Team came in and started buying mostly financial stocks, lifting the country's markets and pushing the Composite back over 2,500, ending with a loss of just 0.9%.

The detailed reason for this arrest has been revealed. Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng is suspected of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial US institutions. The US Judiciary found that there was a company called Skycom that traded with Iran during 2011–2014 and Huawei was suspected to control the company Skycom at that time.

So the accusation is about the old Iran sanctions 7 years ago. And you might wonder why someone brought this up at this particular time.

There is something else that you need to know to understand this incident.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that the People’s Republic of China has provided $2.35 million in support of the Agency’s emergency appeal for the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).

In a statement on Friday, UNRWA said that “we appreciate the generous donation of $2.35 million from the People’s Republic of China in support of the Agency’s appeal for the Palestinian territories,” adding:

This generous donation from China provides immediate and critical emergency food aid during the months of October through December 2018 to approximately 1 million Palestine refugees who are classified under absolute poverty and extreme poverty categories in Gaza as part of the agency fourth emergency food aid.

China has shown off its latest drone bomber as it releases footage of the unmanned aircraft completing its first flight.

Wing Loong I-D, a type of combat and spy drone, can carry more than 10 different types of weapons and fly up to 35 hours without refuelling.

It is also able to scout information from as high as 7,000 metres (22,965 feet), according to Chinese news site Sina Military.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The problem here, is not that the Chinese military has this weapon, which sounds very formidable indeed; the question which must be raised at this time, is why do American military not have either the equivalent of such a weapon, or better?!?

Understand that Bill Clinton faced a significant Chinese scandal of selling technology to them and covering it up under the Monica Lewinski scandal, but don't think the Clintons ties to the Chinese went away back in the 1990s. Those ties continued on into her tenure as Secretary of State under the usurper Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah. At that time, she secured her brother's financial interests in Hong Kong, which included executives from Huawei, who received visas. The visas were used to spy on the US.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has become obsolete and cannot address modern challenges, professor of finance Michael Pettis told Sputnik, commenting on a row surrounding the Trump administration's snubbing of the organisation. According to the professor, the WTO and other international institutions need to change.

The EU and China lambasted the US on December 19 for undermining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by refusing to allow new appointments to the Appellate Body, the organisation's court, amid the US-China trade frictions.

"It is… unfortunate that we are seeing, since the last trade policy review, especially during the past year, a different America with severely mismatched power and responsibility", China's Ambassador to the WTO Zhang Xiangchen said, as quoted by Xinhua.

If there is any country on Earth that is most emblematic of the rising governance model that is Technocracy, it is China. The many pieces to this structure have included much of what we see emerging in the U.S. with pervasive surveillance, biometrics and a notion of protecting the public by instituting pre-crime algorithms in police departments and travel. So, in many ways, China is the very large canary in the coal mine for anyone who wishes to attempt to slow the rapidity of our slide down the slippery slope toward scientific totalitarianism...

China is once again on the threshold of a historic first in its fast-paced exploration of Earth’s moon.

Having sent three previous missions moonward since 2007, including one that hosted the nation’s first-ever robotic lander and rover, China’s latest lunar foray began in the early hours of December 8, 2018, when a Long March-3B carrier rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, carrying the Chang’e-4 spacecraft. Consisting of a lander and a rover, Chang’e-4 is targeting the moon’s farside, the lunar hemisphere that is always facing away from Earth. No spacecraft has ever achieved a soft landing there before, although in 1962 NASA crashed its Ranger 4 probe into the farside surface

Beijing has accused the United States of fabricating its claims that China stole trade secrets and technologies from at least 12 countries through a hacking campaign, and countered by claiming Washington itself is cyber hacking.

In a statement on Friday, the foreign ministry in Beijing responded to US legal action against two Chinese alleged hackers and said China would take “necessary steps to resolutely protect its cybersecurity and interest”.

“The United States fabricated facts,” it said. “The US made false accusations against the Chinese side on the grounds of so-called cyber stealing. Such a move is a serious violation of the basic norms of international relations and will seriously damage Sino-US cooperation.

Britain today sensationally blamed China for a campaign of global cyber attacks aimed at stealing business secrets from the UK and allied countries.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt blamed Beijing for the 'one of the most significant' cyber attacks ever made against the UK and its allies.

The 'sustained' campaign has tried to steal secrets from global companies based in Europe, Asia and the United States.

British spies have assessed 'with the highest level of probability' that China is to blame for the hacking of corporate giants - warning the attempts to breach security are 'almost certainly' continuing.

Mr Hunt demanded the Chinese offensive action 'stop', warning they breach international agreements made at the G20.

Update: The latest batch of indictments has been handed down. The DOJ has indicted two hackers for their alleged involvement in a global hacking campaign, carried out at the behest of the Tianjin office of China's MSS. The behavior allegedly happened over two time periods, one of which began in 2006, and the other beginning in 2014. They compromised more than 40 computers belonging to the US Navy.

Here's a breakdown of the indictment, courtesy of CNBC:

Prosecutors accused the hackers of operating in connection with the Chinese government.
They are accused of stealing information from at least 45 U.S. tech companies and government agencies.

Agencies targeted included the Department of Energy's National Laboratory and NASA's jet propulsion lab.

The hackers also allegedly targeted defense industrial companies and managed service providers, as a way to gain entry to U.S. corporations and agencies through their suppliers.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Great; on top of the trade wars, now we've got accusations of computer meddling; this is really ratchet down tensions, of course!

The timing of these accusations is not a coincidence, and I would suspect that there is someone at State, Pentagon, and/or Justice, who wants to see a hot war with China come to fruition, and right now.

The only problem: The US military doesn't have the money; the weaponry; the troop strength, or the manufacturing to insure a positive outcome to a war with China at this time.

Three days after warning Canada about "escalation" and "grave consequences" amid a worsening diplomatic crisis, China has arrested a third Canadian national, according to Canada's National Post, which cited a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, the international arm of the Canadian government. No further details were provided, other than saying the Canadian government was "aware of a Canadian citizen" being detained.

Global Affairs diplomatically refused to connect this third arrest to the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver earlier this month. The executive, the daughter of one of China's most successful businessmen, was released on bail last week.

Webmaster's Commentary:

I would strongly suggest that any American or Canadian worker in China, get the "heck out of Dodge", if they can possibly do so; it appears that being American, or Canadian, in China can be rather hazardous to one's health, and personal freedom.

Do the Chinese even realize how responsible Adelson, a rabid, neocon Jewish supporter of Israel who effectively owns Trump's foreign policy, is for the current climate of global international tension?

"China actually holds a Royal Flush in this international political poker game. The only question is whether they will recognize the value of their hand. I hope they do for the sake of America and the entire world."

Webmaster's Commentary:

As I recall, Adelson is already in trouble with the Chinese government over a bribery scandal.

China has arrested 100 Christians, including a prominent pastor, in a crackdown on underground churches in the officially atheist nation.
"This is systematic, this is escalating, and the whole world needs to pay more attention," Reverend Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, told CNN in a Tuesday interview.

US President Donald Trump's recent call for the creation of a new space agency within the Pentagon caught the attention of Chinese officials this week, and Beijing is stressing its concern that the US will weaponize space.

Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday that the move by the Trump administration would turn space into a "new battleground."

"China has consistently proposed the peaceful usage of space and opposes the weaponization of space and a space arms race," Hua said at a press briefing, AFP reported. "We oppose even further turning space into the new battleground."

This is Russia’s #1 anchor, and he is usually very on-the-money, especially on all things Chinese - this info is probably coming from Chinese sources. He explains that if the world adopts Chinese 5G technology -- they have beaten the US to the punch on this one, and are already rolling it out on a massive global scale -- then US universal surveillance of everyone outside of America is in serious trouble. It’s that simple. Little Miss Meng seems like such a nice lady, weird that the globalists would go after her like that. Now it all makes sense. Transcript below:

The US Navy is considering whether to deploy submarine-hunting P-8 Poseidon aircraft to a Cold War-era base in Alaska in an effort to keep a closer eye on Chinese and Russian movements in the Arctic.

"Our Russian friends are warming up five airstrips and 10,000 Spetsnaz troops [in the Arctic] for quote unquote search and rescue. The Chinese are up there. Everybody is up there," US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told lawmakers last week.

"Everybody but us," fired back Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan.

Webmaster's Commentary:

More sabre rattling; more demonization; more sanctions.... folks, you can see this coming, much like as in that archetypal dream, where two locomotives are about to hit each other, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

At this point, I would like very much to remind you, if you have not started prepping, to do so immediately. If you don't know very much about it, get some info on line from someone like Daisy Luther, a very accomplished speaker and writer on the subject. Consider any payment you may make on that, as an investment in your, and your family's future survival.

I wish I could see a better outcome than either a world war, with Russia, China, and Iran on one side, and the US, NATO, the UK and Saudi Arabia on the other, or a complete, economic collapse of the US; but I don't see how that can happen, given the current geopolitical climate today.

“China and Russia are pursuing hypersonic weapons because their speed, altitude and maneuverability may defeat most missile defense systems, and they may be used to improve long-range conventional and nuclear strike capabilities,” the report said.

The Associated Press has tracked recent, ongoing shipments from one such factory — Hetian Taida Apparel — inside an internment camp to Badger Sportswear, a leading supplier in Statesville, North Carolina. Badger’s clothes are sold on college campuses and to sports teams across the country, although there is no way to tell where any particular shirt made in Xinjiang ends up.

The shipments show how difficult it is to stop products made with forced labor from getting into the global supply chain, even though such imports are illegal in the U.S. Badger CEO John Anton said Sunday that the company would halt shipments while it investigates. -AP

The CEO of Hetian Taida Apparel, Wu Hongbo, confirmed the existence of a factory inside of a re-education compound - one of many across China where some 1 million Muslims, known as Uighurs, are estimated to live in detention where they are forced to give up their language and religion as they are politically indoctrinated.

Webmaster's Commentary:

It is not the report here, which ultimately may or may not be true; it is the timing of the release if this report, which concerns me (dateline: yesterday).

Because on the day before, 17 December, we find the following shark-jumping revelation, this time courtesy of NewsWeak:

The article goes on to state: 'Moscow and Beijing have reportedly joined forces to carry out heating experiments above Europe and modify an important layer of the atmosphere for a possible military application, according to Chinese scientists.

Five experiments were conducted in June, and one of them created a physical disturbance over an area as large as 49,000 square miles, or roughly half the size of Britain, The South China Morning Post reported Monday. The heating experiment, which took place 310 miles over the small Russian town of Vasilsursk in Eastern Europe, generated an electric spike that contained 10 times “more negatively charged subatomic particles than surrounding regions,” the publication noted.'

OK, folks, a little logic here; if, in fact, the Russians and Chinese had, in fact, pulled this off, why in heaven's name, would they be blabbing about this to the entire world?!? I mean, something as significant in the evolution of this kind of weaponry would be top secret, spoken about publicly on penalty of death.

It has been my observation for a long time, that demonization of a country, coupled with sanctions against that country, are many times the prelude to war; unfortunately, I don't think this is different. It is not a question of if; it is a question of when.

The US Navy is considering whether to deploy submarine-hunting P-8 Poseidon aircraft to a Cold War-era base in Alaska in an effort to keep a closer eye on Chinese and Russian movements in the Arctic.

"Our Russian friends are warming up five airstrips and 10,000 Spetsnaz troops [in the Arctic] for quote unquote search and rescue. The Chinese are up there. Everybody is up there," US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told lawmakers last week.

Step side Russia: the new global hacking bogeyman is now officially China.

But how do we know it's China this time and not, say, North Korea, Moscow, or some basement dwelling supporter of Julian Assange? Well, according to Oren Falkowitz, CEO of Area 1, he had “absolute confidence” that a Chinese group was behind the attacks, because of an extensive analysis of their techniques... the same way CrowdStrike had "absolute confidence" Russia hacked the DNC server without, of course, allowing the FBI to also investigate it independent. He linked the hacks to the Strategic Support Force of the People’s Liberation Army.

In a hack surprisingly reminiscent of how "the Russians" got access to John Podesta's email, Area 1 said the hackers initially accessed the system using unsophisticated phishing techniques, sending an email with a malicious link or attachment to people inside the ministry in Cyprus.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This smells like more demonization of China.

And we all know what demonization, coupled with sanctions means; it is, most generally, a prelude to a shooting war.

I would very strongly caution President Trump against war with China, either now, or in the very near future. And I say that because, at this point in its history, the American military doesn't have the weaponry; the troop strength; the manufacturing; or the money to insure a positive outcome in such a conflict.

The control over the ionosphere has become an ambitious project for some military forces, as it has the capacity to disrupt communication of enemy satellites. The U.S., for instance, was also involved in a multimillion-dollar project called the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, also known as HAARP, located 200 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska, and funded by the U.S. military and the Defense Department in 1993. HAARP was later transferred from the U.S. Air Force to the University of Alaska Fairbanks on August 11, 2015.

The arrest of the CFO of the China’s largest telecoms equipment company, Huawei, carries hallmarks of deep state or behind-the-scenes sabotage designed to rupture recent progress between US President Trump and China President Xi Jinping on strategic issues. Here are some elements of the case that smack of insider sabotage from the US side, with complicity of Five Eyes member Canada.

A drone video showing Tesla’s new factory site in Shanghai, China, was shared on Youtube this week. The aerial footage reveals a vast and mud-filled area where construction is already underway.

The area is surrounded by a fence and the video shows some construction workers and their equipment on site. The video’s description says the surrounding fields have been flattened and ground work has begun on the 860,000 square meter site, which appears flooded with muddy puddles.

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has been called one of the greatest works of military strategy ever written. This Chinese military handbook dates back to the 5th century BC and contains 13 chapters, each dealing with a certain aspect of war. The advice for military tactics and leadership strategies has inspired military commanders, world leaders, business CEOs, and athletic coaches, from Norman Schwarkopf to Bill Belichick to Jeff Bezos. With its pithy and memorable quotes, the words of Sun Tzu can easily be adapted and applied to all aspects of modern life. Here are 8 take-aways from The Art of War.

EU countries, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and most other nations are virtual US colonies, co-opted to do Washington’s bidding – even when harming their own interests.

Canada’s unacceptable arrest and detention of Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou was all about Ottawa acting as a US proxy, serving its aim to aid corporate America against foreign competition – by whatever it takes to give US enterprises an international advantage by fair or foul means.

China warned of “grave consequences” if Meng isn’t unconditionally released. If extradited to America as the Trump regime demands, she faces potential longterm imprisonment over Huawei allegedly circumventing illegal US sanctions on Iran.

No nations or enterprises anywhere should observe them. Going along with illegal US actions amounts to complicity with its imperial agenda, its hot and cold war on one country after another.

Given that he was speaking to honor the 40th anniversary of the 1978 reforms that set China on the path toward building a modern industrialized state, Xi Jinping - markets had hoped - might announce new reform measures or economic liberalization efforts like certain policy moves that had been teased by the Wall Street Journal last week.

Yet, as we described last night, Chinese stocks slumped as Xi opted not to make "liberalization" and "reform" the centerpiece of his speech (unlike his memorable opening remarks at Davos 2017 where he spoke about "opening up" the Chinese economy, comments that were cheered by international investors). Instead, Xi defended China's embrace of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and insisted the world's second largest economy would stick to its policy agenda despite pressure from the US, according to Bloomberg.

The strategic vision which emerges from the Congressional report – even more worrying when we note that the Commission is composed of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats – leaves no room for doubt. The United States – which, since 1945, has provoked wars causing between 20 and 30 million deaths (plus the hundreds of millions caused by the indirect effects of these wars) to “guide the construction of a world of unusual prosperity, freedom and security, from which it has benefited enormously” is now preparing to do anything necessary to maintain its “unequaled military power” upon which their empire is founded, but which is now beginning to crumble with the emergence of a multipolar world.

For this purpose, the Congressional Commission is examining scenarios of aggression against the United States, which are no more than the mirror image of their own aggressive strategy, which runs the risk of dragging the world into catastrophe.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Folks, as Mike and I have been trying to point out at this site for years, it is not a question of "if" such horrendous circumstances will arrive; it is only a question of when, and what will be used to "justify" war on either country.

Please, brush up on your prepping. Have some plans, either hunkering down, or bugging out. Please make sure you fully understand your child's school policies on taking them out of school early, if you truly feel that the excrement is about to hit the ventilation system.

Days after revealing that businessman Michael Spavor - who became the second Canadian citizen detained in China since Beijing warned it would retaliate against Canada for the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver earlier this month - had been arrested for "threatening national security", the Communist Party made clear that this is only the beginning, and that Canada should expect "further escalation" as Beijing has no intentions of backing down - and every intention of sending a message to US allies that they should stay out of the still-simmering dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Israel’s decision to allow a Chinese government-connected firm to run a key Israeli port is causing rare friction with Washington amid behind-the-scenes pushback from the U.S. Navy, which has a long history of docking at the port.

Intelligence and security concerns raised by U.S. defense officials have prompted Israel’s national security cabinet to revisit a deal to give Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) control over commercial operations at the port of Haifa in 2021, according to an Israeli news report.

China’s “social credit” system is another worry for executives, as tensions spike over the arrest of a Huawei executive at U.S. behest. The government’s plan to blacklist people and companies for misbehaviour is widely misunderstood. But its implications for business should raise eyebrows. By holding executives accountable for their company’s misdeeds, it blurs the already fuzzy Chinese line between corporate and personal interests.

The social credit system poses additional risks to foreign companies. Take the tiff between U.S. airlines and China’s civil aviation agency earlier this year over their labeling of Taiwan as a “country” in ticket-booking systems; Beijing considers the island a breakaway province. If a court had fined the airlines and they refused to budge, it’s conceivable their China-based managers might have been placed on a do-not-fly list, or seen their children kicked out of private school.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton in a speech unveiled the US strategy to counter Chinese and Russian influence in Africa. He accused Moscow and Beijing of deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the US.

The American official claimed that China was using bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing's wishes and demands. In addition, Bolton announced a new program, "Prosper Africa", to support American investment across the continent and provide alternatives to Chinese projects.

Radio Sputnik has discussed this new plan with Ian Taylor, a professor in International Relations and African Political Economy at the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing pushback for saying on Tuesday that he might intervene in a legal case involving the chief financial official of Chinese telco giant Huawei Technologies — if such a move would help Washington secure a trade deal with Beijing.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday warned the U.S. not to politicize extradition cases, saying that the legal process should not be hijacked for political purposes.

“Our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice and following the rule of law,” she said when asked about Trump’s interview with Reuters where he reportedly said he would intervene in the case if it helped secure a trade deal with Beijing.

The world order has already changed. China has a larger and more powerful industrial and manufacturing based economy than the US, and China’s potential domestic consumer market is four times larger than that of the US. As economies are consumer based, China’s potential is an economy four times larger than that of the US.

Russia has a far more capable military with weapon systems unmatched by the US. The US is drowning in debt, and the illegal and irresponsible sanctions that Washington tries to impose on others are driving the world’s largest countries away from the use of the US dollar as world reserve currency and away from Western clearance systems such as SWIFT. The United States already has one foot in the grave. Any country sufficiently stupid to ally with the US is allied with a dead man walking.

Webmaster's Commentary:

As grim as Paul Craig Robert's assessment is of the world situation, I must grudgingly concur.

The possibilities here, are either a complete collapse of the US economy, or a world war which will probably leave no nation standing, as we see them today.

Rather, we will see a new international alliance which will be ignoring what is left of the US, because of its long history of international aggression, as though it were Kryptonite.

US President Donald Trump said that China wants to conclude a major and comprehensive deal with the United States, and the signing of the agreement may occur quite soon, Trump wrote today on Twitter.

Today, it was announced that China will freeze the introduction of additional customs tariffs on imports of cars and components from the United States for 90 days, according to a statement by the relevant committee at the State Council of China.

“From January 1 to March 31, 2019, the increase in duties for goods 116 and 67 will be suspended by 25 and 5%, respectively,” the TASS news agency reported on Friday, December 14.

With US markets going into full-fledged convulsions thanks to disheartening economic data out of China, a looming government shutdown, renewed fears about a "no deal" Brexit and Dow component JNJ's worst day in 16 years, strategists can add one more disconcerting development to their list of woes. Citing a "top secret" intelligence report, NBC News said Friday that the US suspects that North Korea is still evading US sanctions by secretly transferring oil at sea.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Note: what do I hear in this rant?!? More demonizing, without real proof.

But do not be deceived by what you see. All this time Canada actually dutifully followed the US lead and even copied some of its trendiest policies. Be it following Russophobic hysteria or making billions worth of deals with some Middle Eastern autocrats, Canada was here to march in lockstep with its powerful neighbor. Its response to the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Washington’s key Middle Eastern ally – the Saudis – was also conspicuously reserved, particularly for a nation that portrays itself as a fervent champion of human rights.

Now China got a taste of Ottawa’s imitation game, as Canada seemingly decided to get involved into the unfolding economic ‘Cold War’ between Washington and Beijing. Last week Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou – the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei – provoking a furious reaction from Beijing.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, unveiling President Donald Trump’s Africa strategy on Thursday, accused Russia and China of “predatory practices” that interfere with American military operations on the continent and pose a significant threat to America’s homeland security interests.

Webmaster's Commentary:

"And by golly, if there is anyone who is going to interfere in Africa it will be the USA!!!!!!!!" -- Official White Horse Souse

China is using its economic clout in Africa to promote a “new international order” and encourage countries to adopt its communist ideology, experts told lawmakers on Wednesday.

While testifying before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Judd Devermont, the director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank, acknowledged that not all Chinese activities in Africa are anti-ethical to U.S. goals, noting that “some are neutral or complementary to U.S. objectives and may actually benefit American interests.”

Nevertheless, some of the witnesses noted that communist China is actively pursuing a new Beijing-led order on the continent.

The concept of Greater Eurasia has been discussed at the highest levels of Russian academia and policy-making for some time. This week the policy was presented at the Council of Ministers and looks set to be enshrined, without fanfare, as the main guideline of Russian foreign policy for the foreseeable future.

President Putin is unconditionally engaged to make it a success. Already at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2016, Putin referred to an emerging “Eurasian partnership”.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ON THURSDAY ANNOUNCED A SHARP REFOCUS OF ITS AFRICA STRATEGY TO COUNTER WHAT IT CALLED THE “PREDATORY” PRACTICES OF CHINA AND RUSSIA, WHICH ARE “DELIBERATELY AND AGGRESSIVELY TARGETING THEIR INVESTMENTS IN THE REGION TO GAIN A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.”

National security adviser John Bolton laid out the new strategy in remarks at the Heritage Foundation, saying the U.S. will now choose its African partners more carefully. He took special aim at China, accusing it of wielding “bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

When Karl Marx made the observation that "all wars are economic in their nature", the guy was absolutely correct.

The US government is just mad that it appears like China and Russia are trying to take an economic "bite" out of Africa before it can.